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The Ritchie Boys, part of the U.S. Military Intelligence Service (MIS) at the War Department, were an organization of soldiers in World War II with sizable numbers of German and Austrian recruits who were used primarily for interrogation of prisoners on the front lines and counter-intelligence in Europe. Trained at secret Camp Ritchie in Washington County, Maryland, many of the total 22,000 men and women in service were German-speaking immigrants to the United States, often Jews, who fled Nazi persecution.[1][2] After the war, many former Ritchie Boys rose to important positions in the military and in the intelligence community.[3] In addition to interrogation and counter-intelligence, they were trained in psychological warfare to study and demoralize the enemy, and they later served as prosecutors and translators in the Nuremberg trials.[4]
The parent organization of the Ritchie Boys, the MIS, was commanded in Washington by Brigadier General Hayes Adlai Kroner for most of the war.[5]
- ^ Henderson, Bruce (2017). Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler. New York: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0062419095. OCLC 1014240736.
- ^ Foy, David A. (2 October 2017). "Intelligence in Literature and Media: Reviewed: Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the US Army to Fight Hitler". Studies in Intelligence. 61 (3). Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
- ^ Cartwright, J. B., The Quiet Contingent: An Addendum on WWII: The Boys of Camp Ritchie, 2024. ISBN 979-8-89379-322-2
- ^ "Ritchie Boys: The secret U.S. unit bolstered by German-born Jews who helped the Allies beat Hitler". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
- ^ Bigelow, Michael E. "A Short History of Army Intelligence" (PDF). U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command.